A New Type of Freedom
by butterflymuppet
Summary: When a slave ends up washed onto the shores of Narnia during its Golden Age, she not only learns a lot herself but she helps another to learn more. Set a few months after the main events of The Horse and His Boy. Peter X OC, possibly Corin X OC.
1. Chapter 1: CRACK

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**

**So this is my first fanfic, and I'm not sure what led me to come up with the idea, as unoriginal as it may be, but I already pretty much know where the story's going so, all being well, I'll update regularly. **

**Although I love writing- I'm a lil bit nervous becase this is the first time that I've actually decided to let other people read something I've written, so I reeeally hope you like it and I would really appreciate it if you let me know what you think as the story goes on. **

**Thank you so much to everyone who reads this !**

**A NEW TYPE OF FREEDOM**

**Chapter 1**

She opened her eyes. Brightness came so strongly that they were almost scolded and she had to snap them shut again.

She could feel nothing except a hollow lifelessness that reverberated through her body. She did not know where she was but she did not have the energy- or the care- to find out. For all she knew, she could be dead. The slight warmth enveloping her was not quite the warmth that she was used to, but it was pleasant all the same. She wondered when her peaceful ambience would be disturbed but the disruption never came. In her tranquil lethargy, she soon started to return to nothingness… but not before she could make out a figure hazily appearing into her vision.

* * *

"Hello?" Edmund asked, gently trying to shake the girls shoulder. "Her eyes _were_ open…"

"Oh do stop gawping at her and do something!" snapped Lucy. "She looks so helpless."

"Where did she come from?" asked Edmund, gazing at the girl with the curiosity of an infant- this was certainly not what he was expecting when he and his sister set off for their afternoon walk.

"She looks like she's from Calormen," said Lucy. The girl's dark skin and strong black hair were clear, even if everything else about her was not.

"Then how did she get here?"

"How would I know?" Lucy said impatiently, and she sighed deeply. "We can't just watch her, we must call for help."

* * *

_She had angered him greatly this time. _

_CRACK._

"_O hideous slave!" He shouted, piercing her ears with such ferocity. "O ungrateful wretch! How dare you! Have I not been a kind and generous master? Have I not given you a home? Have I not fed and watered you?"_

_CRACK. The pain seared across her back, and she bit her lip desperately to stop herself from crying out in agony._

_The Tarkaan continued to shout at her, with each word his voice grew louder and there was an increase in the speckles of spit that pricked her skin. _

"_It is more than you deserve," his voice boomed, "I see that now, you disgusting brute, and in the name of Tash, I will no longer accept this disobedient laziness!" _

_CRACK._

"_It is beyond my patience, now!"_

_CRACK. It came again and again, and once the Tarkaan commanded the guard to stop, the familiar fire of the wounds on her back was so wild that she began to feel faint._

"_No," barked the Tarkaan, "I will no longer accept this foolishness. Tomorrow you will be sold."_

_He turned to the guard._

"_Lock her up," he said coldly, "and give her nothing."_

--

She opened her eyes.

She had moved from the last place, she could feel it. There was no sharp brightness but a dim light glowing from somewhere. Her body was still motionless, but she knew she was gaining strength. Her eyes rolled around lazily so that she could try to guess where she was- but her vision was still hazy and she gave up willingly, closing them once more so that she drowned in her dreams.

* * *

"And then we just found her. Lying on the beach like she had been there forever," said Edmund. "I thought she was dead at first, but then I walked over and I was sure that her eyes were open."

Peter listened carefully, a questioning look on his face and his arms neatly folded on his lap.

"Did you give her some cordial, Lucy?" He asked- it was more of a command than a question.

"Only the smallest of drops," she answered, "for it seemed that she was more fatigued than wounded."

He nodded approvingly.

"Perhaps she's a runaway," said Susan calmly, "like Aravis was."

"Perhaps," he said, and he gave a small shrug. "If that is the case then she will have travelled far."

He stood up.

"I will see to it that there is some food ready for her when she awakes," he said, and he strode out of the room in order to notify the kitchen staff, with a new-found curiosity to see this mysterious new arrival.

* * *

"_At Galma there will be plenty of trade," she heard the captain say to her new master. "You will be sure to earn yourself a large number of crescents- as well as perhaps a few new slaves."_

"_Good," her master said. "This is very good news, for wise was the poet that did say that he who has no bread has no authority."_

_He turned to see her cowering by the door of the cabin with a tray of beverages. She was so unsure of everything, so scared of her new surroundings, and she did not like the sickly feelings that the waves were delivering to her weak form._

"_Indeed," he added quietly as his eyes wandered over her. "You! What are you staring at? I bought you for your services, not for your eyes."_

_She gulped in fear and convinced her feet to shuffle towards the tall, powerful figure of her master- the ship was jerking and swaying brutally but she managed. _

_He took the drinks from her and nodded for her to leave, but not before firmly gripping her wrist and whispering,_

"_Stay obedient; slave, for I will be requiring a different service later and it would do you good to remember your place."_

_CRACK. She flinched when his hand struck her, and she shuddered as his eyes wandered again, but she knew that she could not say anything. A lump came to her throat as she left them to tak more of their journey. She hated her new master and she hated her new home. The ship was so violent, it twitched and jolted like there was an arm under the ocean shaking it and she longed for her feet to touch the safety of land again. _

_As she tried to comfort herself in the small box of a slave cabin, she did not hear the cries of the crew above her and she was completely unprepared for the ship's most violent jolt of all and the final CRACK. _

_--_

She opened her eyes.

She could see that she was in the same place as before, for the dim glow of candlelight still warmed and soothed her. She had more strength now and she could feel that her body was lying on something soft. With the scraps of energy that she was slowly gathering, she lifted her head up and her heart jumped.

At the sight of a strange-looking man standing just metres away from her she let out a high-pitched, terrified scream.


	2. Chapter 2: The Kindness of Strangers

**Author's notes: A-ha, I finished this chapter just after 3 o'clock this morning and I'm a tad bit tired now so sorry for any errors. **

**Anyway, I'd just like to say a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who has story-alerted etc, because it really means a lot to me that you're interested in my writing and it's motivating me to continue and work harder. Special thanks goes to the legend that is Luvtowritefics247, for reviewing and helping my ignorant self to learn the fanfic lingo :).**

**Sooo this chapter's kind of a filler-**** please bear with me, because I'm still at the stage where my mind is full of ideas and I'm not entirely sure how to get them all down. **

**DISCLAIMER: (I forgot to put this in the last chapter)-** **I don't own anything other than my OCs, CS Lewis came up with the great stuff. **

**Thank you everyone! **

* * *

**Chapter 2: The Kindness of Strangers**

He should have expected the screams if she awoke, but the sound of them soared straight into Peter's ears and made them ring so furiously that he was too shocked to respond immediately. He attempted to calm her by stupidly waving one of his hands, almost as if he was trying to tame a beast.

"No! It's alright, please calm yourself! I'm not going to do anything, I just…"

Of course it did nothing to calm her, or stop her screams. Her eyes were large and wild with panic; she was frightened by the mere sight of him.

"What's going on?" a voice called. Peter felt a painful thud on his shoulder as Lucy pushed past him and rushed towards the girl. "Peter, what have you done?"

"I didn't _do_ anything!"

Susan was quick to follow, and after taking one glance at the situation in front of her, she turned towards her brother with a disappointed- almost angry- look in her eyes.

"Just leave, Peter, you're obviously upsetting her," she said, shaking her head.

Peter watched as his sisters sat on the edge of the bed and tried to hush the girl, and with a hopeless and confused stare, he left in irritation.

* * *

_There was a time when her Mother's voice would spill out words of advice. _

"_Nina," she always said, "people like us always have to rely on the kindness of others. We are at the mercy of other people, and at the mercy of Tash."_

"_Yes Mother," Nina would answer blankly. She would then await the next words that her Mother recited like a poet. _

"_And sometimes a situation may arise where you must never refuse the kindness of strangers."_

Nina had to stop her screams soon after the strange-looking man had left, for her throat was fiery and a discreet form of embarrassment was starting to settle in her mind. She looked around her. Two fair women were sitting too close to her, and their bizarrely accented words were frantically flying over her head like dragonflies.

"It's alright..."

"We're not going to hurt you…"

"We just want to help…"

She paid attention to none of it; for she was looking around with a frenzied eye at the strange place she had suddenly found herself in. The room was neither a dungeon nor a slave cabin, as it was too large and it was too grand. She was lying in a bed with a thick mattress and soft, plump pillows. The roof was high above her head and she could actually see golden rays of sun coming in through the windows and setting the room alight...

Her thoughts were disturbed when a hand came to her arm. It was slim and pale and hovering in the awkward space between her and the strange women. She violently shook it away.

"I'm sorry," the first woman said, and there was a momentary silence.

"Lucy, perhaps we should leave her," the second woman warned, and her blue eyes gazed at Nina with a mixture of pity and alarm. "It might be better to let her rest some more, just so that she can get over the shock of things."

"You've been sleeping for so long now, I was starting to get worried," the first woman said- she had obviously decided to ignore the other one's advice. "Nevertheless, you appear to be in better health than when I first found you."

Nina said nothing and stared at the fair woman suspiciously.

_Found_ her?

"You were unconscious," she continued, "lying on the beach not too far from here. You must have been exhausted because you've been sleeping for a long time."

Silence. Nina furiously scoured her brains for a memory somewhere.

"Where have you come from?"

"_Lucy_…"

The woman's questions were not important, for Nina was busy trying to find answers to her those of her own. What was she doing on a beach of all places?

It was not until the image of a ship was slowly being drawn in her mind that she finally realised what may have happened to her. It started off as a brief sketch, in that she remembered large white sails and a busy deck, and then it grew bolder with her recollection of the cabin where her new master had struck her. The image suddenly came to life aggressively when she remembered the cries of the men washing over her ears before the ship slammed into the dark pit of the sea.

"_No_," she murmured.

It was probably the first word that she had said in days. The two women looked at her peculiarly but she could not see them anymore. All she could see was the blackness of the night and the ferocity of the waves.

* * *

Peter's ears were still ringing and the buzz was infuriating him.

He was still livid after his sisters had sent him out of the room so coldly- as if it was his entire fault that the girl started screaming. As if the only reason that she went so mad with fear was because of him. As if the only reason that her eyes were so wild and her cries were so piercing was because of his presence. All he did was walk into the room so that he could see who she was. She was staying in _his_ castle, after all.

"Oh dear, the High King's pride has been pinched somewhat," a voice said jokingly. Edmund had decided to give his brother's mood some time to subside a little before he spoke. "Just what exactly _were_ you thinking, Peter?"

"I just wanted to see if she was alright."

"How, by scaring the life out of her?"

"She didn't need to react that way!" he snapped.

A small chuckle escaped Edmund's lips.

"Well, what did you expect? She wakes up after being nearly unconscious for days, finds that she has no idea where she is, and the first thing she sees is _you,_ a complete stranger. It's no wonder she was a little scared."

Peter chose not to respond because he knew that his brother was right- he just refused to admit it.

"Just let the girls comfort her for a while," Edmund continued, "and then maybe later you will be able to apologise."

Peter grunted in response. He had nothing to apologise for.

* * *

Nina considered crying a waste of time. She had always thouht of it as something she did when she was lttle, and as something that she needed to grow out of. So, over the years, if she ever felt that lump in her throat when the whip came down or the when the insults spat out, she taught herself how to stop any tiny droplets of moisture from leaking out of her eyes.

And yet, when she had realised that she was in a land called Narnia, unfamiliar tears started and she could not stop them. She had never heard of such a place before, but then again, why should she? Being pulled away from Calormen with the merchant was the first time she had ever left Azim Balda. Now she was in a different land altogether with a kind of people that she had never seen before,and there was nowhere else for her to go.

So of course when she started crying- despite her efforts to frantically remove the tears with the back of her hand- the two fair women started fussing over her again. Soft words came out of their mouths and pitying looks came from their eyes, and then the one that looked younger brought her pale hand out again. They told her that she was safe, that no one would ever dream of hurting her and she could stay for as long as she needed, until she could find a way home.

She didn't bother telling them that she had no home now the ship had gone down.

In truth, she tried to say as little about herself as possible. She made the minimum amount of effort in mentioning that she was on a ship to a place called Galma, and it had sunk. No more details were needed, and the women were too polite in their anxiety to ask anymore questions. They gave her food and drink and brought her a change of clothes, and then they left her to collect her thoughts… but that couldn't happen anyway because the man that she saw when she first lifted her head suddenly appeared in the doorway.

He was staring at her inquisitively, his weird blue eyes showing a hint of embarrassment. She probably should have been embarrassed herself, since the last time she had seen him there was nothing but her screams to fill the air, but too much else had happened for that.

"Good afternoon," the man said.

She didn't reply. What did he want?

"I see that someone has brought you something to eat. Are you better now?"

She narrowed her eyes slightly, and glanced towards the remaining scraps of food that she was about to consume. She gave a small nod.

"Good," he said. His voice was less kind than the women's, but she recognised some thoughtfulness, and it was more than any other man had ever shown her before. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "I came to say that I am s-sorry if I startled you earlier today, it was not my intention."

He avoided her gaze as he said this, but she was surprised that he had said it in the first place. She was so surprised that she did not know what to say in return and therefore she just gave another little nod.

"Right then," the strange accent said, as the man turned to leave. "I'll leave you to rest. If you need anything, all you have to do is ask someone."

He left quickly.

As Nina took another look around the elegant room and ate the last of the strange Narnian food on her plate, she remembered the words of her mother.

_Never refuse the kindness of strangers._

She never thought that she would ever need her mother's advice.


	3. Chapter 3: Going

**Author's Notes: **

**Hi everyone! So this chapter is a little different from the last two, I hope you like it- if not then I do apologise.**

**Thanks to everyone for reading, it's great to see all the story alert notifications flying into my email account- but if you don't mind me asking, I would love a few more reviews just to make sure that you're still interested in the story please! I think I'm kinda lacking in that department, and if I get a few more, then I'll update quickly.  
Special thanks to Luvtowritefics247 once again for the help :)**

**DISCLAIMER: I still own nothing except my OCs :)**

**Sooo here it is, chapter 3. Sorry for mistakes and the like, spelling/grammar's not exactly my best point :P. **

**Chapter 3- Going**

Several days had passed since Peter apologised to the Calormene girl- and he had not spoken a word to her since. It was obvious that she had taken a dislike to him- not only because she refused to say a word when he apologised, but also because she had not bothered speaking to him since their awkward meeting. In Peter's opinion the girl was rude, but Edmund claimed that she was just shy.

"Nina's still getting round to the idea of being here. Remember, Peter, that she lost her family on that ship- I don't think that speaking to you is much of a priority for her," he said meaningfully. "Besides, if you're so annoyed, why don't _you_ try speaking to her?"

Well, Peter was not going to do that. He had already tried speaking to her when he apologised, and she just looked at him like he was an imbecile. More to the point, he had a whole land to rule- so speaking to her was not really a priority for him either. Nina was getting on so well with his siblings that he needn't bother trying to talk to her anyway. Lucy already adored her- but Peter expected that because Lucy could get on with pretty much anyone. Edmund admired her for what he called her 'mysterious charm'- whatever that was really supposed to mean- and even Susan had become quite fond of her. She said something about her intelligence, but Peter had only been half-listening.

Indeed, his siblings had come to like the girl so much, that when Peter mildly mentioned her departure, they all looked at him in horror.

"What do you mean- 'when is she going'?" Lucy asked him, her eyes wide in alarm.

"I just mean that she can't stay here forever- this isn't her home, and she's just a stranger…"

"It's only been a few days!" Susan interjected. "Peter, just think about this for a moment. Now of course we're not expecting her to stay forever, but she's lost her family and there's nowhere else for her to go- we _can't_ just kick her out…"

"And _we_ like her!" cried Lucy. "Just because _you_ haven't spoken to her since she got here, it doesn't mean that you have the right to get rid of her!"

"No, I didn't mean it like that, I don't _want_ to get rid of her…"

"Peter," Edmund interrupted him calmly, "I don't think it's really necessary to talk about this right now. I know you're still a little bit embarrassed…"

"I'm not _embarrassed_ by anything!"

"Ok, fine, you're not embarrassed," said Edmund, seeming unconvinced, "but that's not the point. If we're making a decision now, then I vote that she stays."

"And I do," Lucy added quickly.

"As do I," agreed Susan.

Peter sighed in frustration; he was not suggesting that the girl left Cair Paravel this instant- not at all. He was just trying to be sensible, and now his siblings were making him out to be some sort of cruel dictator.

The girls left without saying another word, and once again Edmund was left to deal with his brother's exasperation.

"You know I wouldn't just kick her out, Ed," Peter said, flopping down onto a chair.

"I know," Edmund responded, "but you did seem a little rude- you haven't even tried speaking to her like I suggested."

"Why should I? She won't speak to me, and I have too many other things to do."

"Yes, well I'm sure Narnia will survive without your wise hand if you take around five minutes just to start _some_ sort of conversation with her."

Peter gave a little snort at his brother's mockery, but the fact remained that he still couldn't understand why everyone thought it was his fault that the girl wasn't speaking to _him_.

* * *

Nina thought it was interesting how the fair people of Narnia- those of the highest rank in their land- had made her feel more welcome than even the lowest of slaves in Calormen ever had. In fact, as she had now spent several days in that new and strange land, she actually came to like them- well, most of them.

At first she thought that they had very odd names, but she learnt them quickly. Lucy was the youngest of the kings and queens, and she had a pretty smile and a friendly face. She was the lady who held out her hand so kindly in the beginning, and who- once Nina got over her silent approach to the Narnians- took the time out to talk and tell amazing stories of her and her siblings' adventures. Susan was the other lady- she had beautiful dark hair that contrasted with her pale skin, and glorious blue eyes. She was just as kind as Lucy, but she was older and therefore seemed a little wiser. Edmund was the younger of the two men, with hair almost as dark as his older sister's, and playful eyes that made him look more youthful. Nina liked him for his humour amongst all the other things, since he had a clever way with words and possessed a quality that she wasn't really aware of- his sisters called it sarcasm.

The eldest of the four kings and queens- and the man who she saw when she first opened her eyes- was called Peter (or 'High King Peter', as Edmund said he preferred to be called). Nina had not spoken to him since that moment when he came and apologised for frightening her. In part it was because she was still embarrassed for screaming so much at him, but she also believed that there was a coldness about him that she didn't like. She _would_ have made the effort to speak to him- but every time she looked at him he avoided her eyes completely, and if he ever did give her a glance it seemed arrogant, almost as if he just wanted her to leave so he could get on with running the land and being important.

"My brother is a little weird around strangers sometimes," Edmund told her- he was trying to explain Peter's aloofness. "It takes him a while to trust people… and his pride is still suffering. I'm sure he'll talk to you soon enough."

That may have been true, but the fact remained that in Peter's presence Nina felt awkward, and therefore she decided that she didn't like him nearly enough as his brother and sisters.

Athough Nina did feel very welcome in the castle of Cair Paravel, she couldn't help but feel a bit like an intruder. Although she got on with three of the four siblings, she had this niggling thought in the back of her mind that made her feel like she shouldn't really be there. Firstly, she had lied about her upbringing so that they wouldn't look down on her coldly. There was no way she would let them find out that she was a slave, so she made up a new background for herself in saying that she was the daughter of the merchant on the ship. Of course, when they all looked at her sorrowfully and said they were sorry for her loss, she felt guilty- she did not miss her master or any of the crew at all, but she still lied all the same.

What's more, Narnia was such a strange land that its bizarre inhabitants made her feel like a complete outsider.

It was the goat-man that alarmed her the most.

She was wandering around the castle on her third day- trying to find the library where Lucy had recommended that she read some more stories- when she stumbled into the weirdest looking creature that she had ever seen. He looked like a man from the waist upwards- but he had legs as hairy as a beast's, hooves, and two pointy little horns on either side of his head. She was careful this time not to open her mouth and start screaming again.

"Excuse me, my lady," he said politely, before tottering past her- she turned and watched him in disbelief.

In fact, Nina was almost terrified to learn that the new land that she was residing in was full of such odd-looking creatures, as well as animals that could actually _talk_. There weren't even that many _humans_.

"Well, we have a few foreigners from other lands that have moved here, but Narnia has always really belonged to the talking beasts," Lucy mentioned to her, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"You'll get used to it," Susan added, seeing the look of terror in her eyes.

Yet now- after she had been in Narnia for several days- she was slowly growing accustomed to the beasts and the people and the strange fashions of the land. It was unfortunate, however, when all this seemed to be of no importance after she overheard a small conversation going on between her new hosts.

She was on her way to the gardens when she walked past one of the rooms where the family liked to sit together. The door was slightly ajar, and she was planning to walk past it until she heard that the subject of the discussion was her.

_"That Calormene girl..." _a voice started. She looked through the small gap between the door and the frame to see that it belonged to Peter.

_"Nina," _Edmund's voice said harshly, breaking him off.

_"Yes. Of course. Nina. So... when is she going?"_

There was a moment of silence in the room but she couldn't see the horrified faces- she was too busy trying to stop her heart from pounding its way out of her body.

_"What do you mean- 'when is she going'?" _another voice said,she could just about make out through the accent that it belonged to Lucy.

_"I just mean that she can't stay here forever- this isn't her home, and she's just a stranger…"_

That was all that Nina felt she needed to hear. Her suspicions had been confirmed- she was now well aware that the High King did not want a lowly Calormene girl like her staying in his castle, and she went back to her room with a vague feeling of fury as well as self-pity. If he did not want her there, why didn't he just tell her, instead of acting like she was not there in the first place?

That night she grew convinced by her aggressive thoughts that she was nothing but an intruder to the castle- so she rashly decided that she was going to leave. She didn't really think of where she was going to go or how she was going to get there, but at that moment she didn't care. As soon as she was sure that everyone had retired to bed, she made her way to leave the castle, with nothing but a small sack of food to keep her going.

The hallways were as black the night sky- there was no candlelight glowing to guide her through them and she hurried her way through without seeing a thing… right until there came the flash of a torch fire, and two possibly familiar blue eyes staring straight into her dark ones.

"Oh," Peter muttered grumpily. "Hello."

Her eyes widened and she clutched onto the little sack that was weighing down her small hand. Peter noticed it in an instant.

"Are you _going _somewhere?"

**Hmmm... after reading it through I'm not sure I like it. Oh well- reviews please? I'm feeling deprived... sobsniffcry**


End file.
